Life in Man or Man in Life? French-German genealogies between anthropology and anti-humanism

This conference has the character of a summer school which invites (doctoral) students to present their research projects in either French or German. The guiding idea of our seminar is to compare the “anthropological current” (Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner, Arnold Gehlen, later Hans Blumenberg) within modern German philosophy with the various voices of the “theoretical anti-humanism” that has deeply characterized 20th century French philosophy. Taking the relationship between these two trajectories as our starting point, we will explore questions of mutual reception and editorial history between the authors involved, analyse the different transformations of the phenomenological tradition in both Germany and France, discuss the relevance of biological discourses on either side and reflect on the theories of civilization that have emerged within the history of French and German philosophy.

Time and Place: 21-25 July, 2014; École Normale Supérieure (Paris)

Deadline for Abstracts: 9 May 2014